Wednesday, July 08, 2009Accountability It's inevitable, I think... to compare who we are as Americans with the rest of the world as we travel through it and notice all the differences. And I've been noticing something recently that I'd like to capture here. The first time I noticed it was on a posting on the wall of a train station near Hampton Palace outside of London. The notice said something like "The ticket office is now relocated due to repairs. I hope you are not inconvenienced by this. If so, please come and see me. (signed) The Station Master." Another time I heard it was on the Virgin UK train, between London and Dumfries. There had been a massive screw up with the computer and all the reserved seated were screwed up. It was hot, crowded, chaotic, and actually a fairly unpleasant situation. The head conductor got on the PA system several times and said something like "I apologize for the problem with the reserved seating. It was due to a computer error. I am changing trains at Preston but will alert the next conductor as to the problem and make sure he is aware of the situation." "I" am sorry. "I" will take responsibility to tell the next guy. "See me" and "I" will make it right for you. Am I crazy, or is this unfamiliar language to our American ears? Don't we usually phrase things more in the passive voice, or couched in a less personal "we?" "We are sorry if this causes any inconvenience." "Please be aware that seats are not reserved on this train." No one says "I'm sorry," at least not in writing, least of all in public. No one says "This is a problem that happened on my watch, I'm going to take responsibility for it, and if you want to see me about it, I welcome the conversation." Our phraseology seems to always be constructed with one eye on the jury box, hedging away from taking responsibility, worrying that some attorney is going to smack us for saying out loud, and in public, that we are responsible for something that may, someday, cause someone to sue us for money -- money that we might not have had to pay had we just been a bit more careful with our words. This idea of responsibility goes in the other direction, too. I was explaining to Roger last night that the French are a proud people, people who have contributed an inestimable amount to civilization and art and our western culture. They are part of a culture that stretches back many thousands of years, and they -- actually, shockingly, amazingly -- don't actually need us. They don't particularly love us, and they don't need to love us. They don't have to speak English (but they mostly do.) They don't have to kiss our asses. We are in their country, and -- for the most part -- we act pretty rudely to them. I have seen more than my share of belligerent, obnoxious, and stupid Americans in my travels, and have tried extra hard to change that legacy. But the fact remains that, individually and collectively, we have overall behaved somewhat badly in the world. And even though we don't apologize for that, or hold ourselves accountable, other people do. They remember the Americans who yell at them in order to make them understand English better. They remember the Americans who are pushy and rude and make jokes that are all too well understood by our hosts. They remember. And then there's the collective. There's the role the US has played in the world during the Bush Administration. There's the fact that -- because of our race to greed and our cavalier mismanagement of an unthinkable amount of money -- everyone's lives all over the world have changed, jobs have been lost, financial empires have crumbled. There's this matter of a war that everyone, even us US citizens, understood to be wrong in action and intent and conception, and was engaged upon neverthe less. These people see this all too clearly. And just because we provide incredible diversions with our Michael Jacksons and ubiquitous iPods, it doesn't really excuse us from playing recklessly with the world's stability. Taking responsibility. Accountability. I'm sorry to say, but I don't think this is one of our core competencies as Americans. We don't say "I'm sorry." We don't say "Please talk to us if you have a problem with what we're doing." We pretty much do what we want to do, and hedge our language to be as legally defensible as possible. It smacks of immaturity. It reminds me again of how young we are, how callow, and how unseasoned. It reminds me of how much weight we throw around and how relatively easily won our power has been. I am not bashing the US.... we have contributed an enormous amount to the world, not only in technology and innovation, but in our ability to govern ourselves with relatively little bloodshed and instability. In our election of President Obama (and the overwhelming shift from right to left in Congress), we have shown that change can be effected in our system, and that we can self-regulate. I am once again not afraid to call myself an American when traveling abroad... but I am also very well aware that just because we collectively pulled our head out of our arses, we still have much to be accountable for. Reversing this needs to start with us as individuals. Maybe taking our own personal responsibility a bit more seriously will start to ripple up to the collective. As we travel through Paris this next week, I am going to keep an eye open for ways to be more accountable, both personally and as a representative of our country. We are not a bad country, but we are a young one. Maybe increasing our individual maturity can help our nation grow as well, at least as we are perceived in the eyes of the world. # posted by Katherine Shirek Doughtie @ 6:54 AM  
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